Protesters picket Dublin office of scientology
church

More than 100 people took part in a picket of the Irish
headquarters of the Church of Scientology yesterday, one of many
protests held worldwide against the controversial organisation.

The protest was organised by a group calling itself Anonymous
Ireland, a loose collective of young people involved in internet
protests against the religion. Many attending the protest on Middle
Abbey Street wore masks, saying they feared intimidation or legal
threats.

"Anonymous is a group of genuinely concerned citizens that wish
to educate the Irish public on the real danger of this purely
money-driven cult and to prevent scientology from taking root in
Ireland as it has in America, Spain and even in the UK," the group
said in a statement.

"We do not oppose scientology's spiritual beliefs, merely the
money-grabbing corporate way in which they sell them to their own
followers, extorting them for every penny they own and brainwashing
them with pipe dreams of 'spiritual salvation at a price'."

The Church of Scientology responded yesterday by describing
Anonymous Ireland as "a group of cyber-terrorists who hide their
identities behind masks and computer anonymity".

It accused the group of perpetrating "religious hate crimes"
against the church and individual members for "no other reason than
religious bigotry".

"Quite obviously, this group is not just anti-scientology, it is
anti-freedom of religion and anti-free speech," it said in a
statement.

The worldwide protests are the latest instalment in a campaign
fought by internet activists and hackers against the religion. Last
month, a video clip of actor Tom Cruise extolling the virtues of
scientology was leaked to the internet, but YouTube and other sites
removed it under threat of litigation by the church, which claimed
copyright infringement.

Since then, a series of internet guerrilla actions have been
launched against the church, ranging from the leaking of documents
to "Google bombing", whereby the search engine has been manipulated
to return the Scientology website when users type "dangerous
cult".

One of the Dublin protesters, Jeff Rudd, said he wanted to
ensure the public was aware of the techniques used by the Church of
Scientology to induct members which, he said, included brainwashing
and indoctrination. "A friend of mine got involved and got out
after a year, but not before his bank balance and his mental
balance had been affected."

Gerard Ryan, spokesman for the Irish branch of the church,
rejected these criticisms. The church was neither secretive nor
wealthy, he said: its accounts were available for all to view and
it made "zero profit" each year. "Just because you saw something on
the internet doesn't mean it's true," he told the protesters.

He said "disconnection" - where church members are instructed to
sever all ties from family members or friends critical of
scientology - only happened in extreme cases. He couldn't recall
such a case happening in Ireland.

Asked about "fair game", a policy of scientology founder L Ron
Hubbard which allows critics to be "tricked, sued or lied to or
destroyed", Mr Ryan said this had been repealed shortly after it
was formulated. "I will not stand over any unsavoury practice of
any scientologist in any part of the world," he said.

In 2003, a former member of the Irish mission settled a High
Court claim for damages against the church. Anonymous Ireland says
it plans another protest on Mr Hubbard's birthday next month.